Today can be classified in that “Well, if you can believe this!” department!!!

December 1, 2015

Oh, if you can believe this!
Today I promised my mother that I would give her a hand running some errands and take her downtown for her specialist health check appointment.

You probably already know mom’s 80 million years old, and hates driving downtown and trying to park there, an I’m a chill downtown driver, (probably owning to my favourite super aggressive, racing, weaving in and out of traffic driving style…in a safe way)

So I drove my red sports car out to mom’s and parked it up, jumped into her car and we ran some errands for her, I parked up in a back lane while she ran an appointment for 10 minutes, she came back to the car I tried to start it and…nothing. I clicked the starter again, and nothing. Again and again, nothing and nothing. Damn, the battery or alternator.

By now, mom had about 20 minutes to get downtown for that health check. I called a taxi and called mom’s Mercedes person for the Road star roadside assistance for a jump start.

The taxi arrived, and I packed mom off in the taxi and waited for help. The Road star assistance arrived and the fellow jump started mom’s car. And now here’s the trick: Why the hell did mom’s battery die. I had the seat warmers on while we were driving, but the car shut down while I was waiting. Hmm…time for a new battery probably.

So while mom was at her health check, I drove around trying to charge up the battery, while speaking to the Mercedes people (hands free, don’t freak out), trying to fit a new battery and routine maintenance into the narrowest margin of time, between tomorrow morning and Friday morning when I have to take mom to Seattle for a conference.

Well long story short, several hours later, my sports car parked in mom’s garage, I’ve got mom getting a lift from a fellow doctor to her hospital for her rounds tomorrow, and me driving mom’s car to drop it off this evening for a 9:30am appointment tomorrow at the Mercedes service, where they’ll fix everything.

Whew!

I must admit I always look at that photo of my late father in mom’s dining room and think about the calm and easy way he’d handle any “freakout” situation. He never raised his voice, he never lost his cool, and he always got results.

Now I can tell you that, for all the luxury and prestige, I wouldn’t want have mom’s temperamental Mercedes for a minute, but you know, one lovely thing about a full service, upscale car dealership is that they immediately called me a taxi and sent me on my way with a full price taxi voucher, today’s newspaper, a promise to polish and clean the interior of the car, AND a cup of tea. I can tell you that by this evening I was willing to murder for a cup of tea.

This is the photo I took out of the window of the taxi while my iPhone was on 3% battery power from all the use!
Oh my god it’s so very good to be home!

Oh, what a day! But, I bet your mom is really glad she has you to help her out. And, what a lovely home she has.
“He never raised his voice, he never lost his cool, and he always got results.” That is quite a testimony to your dad’s character,, and not something that can be said of very many people.